Taking a serious note of thebrutal murder of a 25-year-old legal professional at herCentral Mumbai apartment on August 9, the National Commissionfor Women (NCW) member Nirmala Samant Prabhavalkar has askedMaharashtra Home Minister R R Patil to initiate steps toensure safety of women.
"The Maharashtra government has already taken a numberof steps to improve the safety of women in the state. However,we feel that lot more needs to be done to ensure greatersafety of women," Prabhavalkar said in the letter.
"We have positively noted the fact that the Mumbaicrime branch arrested the accused within 24 hours of thecommissioning of the heinous crime. The decision to opt for atrial of the accused in a fast track court is also a welcomemove," the letter stated.
The victim Pallavi, daughter of IAS officer AtanuPurkayastha, a joint secretary in the Agriculture Ministry,was found lying in a pool of blood in her 16th floor apartmentat the upscale 'Himalayan Heights' in Wadala by her live-inpartner Avik Sengupta on August 9.
She was allegedly stabbed to death by the privatesecurity guard of the apartment block, Sajjad Ahmed Mughal,who has since been arrested.
According to the police, Mughal killed Pallavi forrefusing to give in to his advances.
In her letter, Prabhavalkar also suggested variousmeasures including background check on the guards provided byprivate security agencies.
"Security guards agencies are governed by specificlaws but many lapses have been found in the functioning of theagencies. All cooperative housing societies should be asked todo security audit of their premises in consultation with thelocal police," the letter said.